All Credits: Moisture Control with Spray Foam Insulation  

The design of building enclosures entails some very particular requirements that mandate attention to detail. Specifically, barriers of multiple types are needed to restrict air, water, vapor, and thermal transfer. This usually means that a wall assembly requires multiple products to address each one. An emerging alternative is to use a single product with multiple properties, thus eliminating construction steps and reducing labor and material costs accordingly. To work fully, that means the product or material has to demonstrate proven abilities to resist heat, water, and air movement through it in addition to providing a truly continuous installation in order to assure uninterrupted performance. Such a product exists in spray foam insulation systems that have been tested and proven to provide the multiple levels of protection needed in a single-product application. At the same time, it can allow more design freedom due to the custom, field-applied nature of the system. Hence, it is becoming a popular alternative among architects compared to a reliance on multiple, separate barrier products for air, water, vapor, and thermal transfer.

Sponsored by Huntsman Building Solutions